Nevele owner shares vision of resort

Friday

Apr 12, 2013 at 2:00 AM

ELLENVILLE — The Nevele developers rolled out the red carpet — literally — Thursday for some 250 guests to showcase their new headquarters and their casino vision for a former jewel of the Borscht Belt.

Michael Novinson

ELLENVILLE — The Nevele developers rolled out the red carpet — literally — Thursday for some 250 guests to showcase their new headquarters and their casino vision for a former jewel of the Borscht Belt.

A who's who of local and Ulster County notables strolled past a 1961 Chevrolet Impala Convertible, posed for red carpet pictures with Nevele owner Michael Treanor, and walked into a replica Stardust Ballroom complete with 1960s-style mannequins and even a chairlift from the resort's old ski slope.

"We could change Ellenville in a way that's hard to imagine," Treanor told the guests.

But the change will come only if voters approve table games in a November referendum and the state awards a casino permit to the Nevele, which Treanor said has a roughly 50 percent chance of happening.

The dreams for a revitalized Nevele are as majestic as the vistas from the Gunks that tower high above the resort.

The revamped Nevele would have a 2,000-foot water coaster, the longest in the world by more than 700 feet, said resort architect Peter Wilday.

A 300-foot beach would compliment one of the biggest wave pools in America, he said.

And most important in a region where unemployment is around 18 percent, a reopened Nevele would offer the equivalent of 1,700 full-time jobs.

"This is a family resort," Wilday said. "It happens to have a casino hidden in the middle."

And those gambling-related jobs would come quickly.

A temporary casino would open six months after getting a casino permit, Wilday said, and a golf course and 250 rooms would open within a year.

All the amenities, from a 150,000-square-foot permanent casino to 450 hotel rooms to a seven deck parking garage, would open within three years.

But obstacles remain.

Treanor told county legislators April 3 that's he several months behind the Empire Resort in Sullivan County in planning and pushing for a casino.

"Everybody knows in their heart of hearts that I'm playing catch up to Monticello," Treanor said.

Wawarsing Supervisor Scott Carlsen said state representatives, notably John Bonacic, who leads the Senate committee on gambling, need to get fully behind the project.

"Lukewarm is not good enough anymore, senator," Carlsen told the assembled crowd. "We need you hot."

mnovinson@th-record.com

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